DIRECTIOlSrS FOR BLUEBERRY CULTURE. 13 



with a little ventilation at night to refill the frame with cool air, 

 until the cuttings are rooted. The closing not only keeps the air 

 saturated with moisture and prevents the drying of the cuttings, 

 but it also tends to maintain a cool ground temperature within the 

 frame. 



The use of a greenhouse in which to start the cuttings, followed 

 by the transfer of the cutting boxes to coldframes at the beginning 

 of warm weather, jDermits an even more prolonged protection of the 

 cuttings than can be obtained in either greenhouse or coldframes 

 alone and increases the percentage of rooted plants. The directions 

 for rooting winter cuttings of the blueberry by this method are as 

 follows : 



(1) Make the cuttings in late autumn, removing any leaves that have not 

 already fallen. 



(2) Make the cuttings from wood of the preceding summer's growth, rejecting 

 such poi'tions as bear the large fat flowering buds. The cuttings are to be made 

 from well-matured unbranched twigs or shoots grown in well-lighted situations 

 and therefore well stored with starch. 



(3) About 4 inches is a suitable length for finished cuttings. A sharp 

 thin-bladed knife should be used. In the finished cutting, the upper end of the 

 diagonal cut at the base of the cutting should come just below a sound bud, 

 and the cut at the upper end of the cutting should be about an eighth of an inch 

 above a sound bud. If the cuts are first made with pruning shears, remove witli 

 the knife the bruised wood at the cut ends. The diagonal knife cuts should be 

 as short as is practicable without bruising the barlv or splitting or straining 

 the wood. To avoid infection of the cuttings, the knife must be kept clean. 

 This may be done conveniently by dipping the blade in alcohol and wiping it on 

 a clean towel. The cuttings must not be allowed to become dry. This is easily 

 prevented by laying them in the fold of a clean moist towel. 



(4) The cutting box (PI. XIV) should be made of sound clean wood, about 

 8 iuclies deep inside and of any convenient size, with drainage holes in the 

 bottom. The cutting bed should be laid down over a groundwork of clean 

 broken crocks, gravel, or other material that will provide good drainage. On 

 this place about 3i inches of rather coarse basswood sawdust mixed with about 

 one-fourth its bulk of peat, the whole bed, including tlie drainage material, 

 being 4 inches or a little more in thickness. Wet the bed thoroughly with clean 

 rain water or other pure water (free from lime) from a sprinkling pot. 



(5) With a newly whittled stick or other clean implement puncli holes about 

 3 inches deep in the cutting bed at a spacing of 2 to 3 inches each way, according 

 to the thickness of the cuttings. In setting the cutting in tlie hole be sure to 

 press it down far enough and firmly enough to make sure that tlie cut surface 

 at the base is in contact with the sawdust, but be careful not to injure the 

 delicate new tissue at the base of the cutting by pushing it forcibly into the 

 cutting bed. With the stick tamp the sawdust firmly about the cntting. Cover 

 the box with a pane or panes of glass. 



(6) To prevent injury of the cuttings by overheating, allow little or no direct 

 sunlight on the boxes. Shade them with muslin or paper or slats so hung as to 

 permit ample circulation of cool air between the shade and the ghiss. 



(7) Keep the air inside the box saturated or nearly saturated with moisture. 

 This condition will be .shown by the condensation of the moisture on the under 

 side of the glass at night or at other cool portions of the day. 



